July 7 was a day that I had been looking forward to. We departed on a 90 minute boat ride to the Great Barrier Reef. The ride ride out was grueling for me as the rough waves made my face and fingers bloodshot numb as I struggled to hold everything down. When we finally arrived I slowly recovered from my intense nausea, but never fully back to "normal".

After trying to recover for an hour I put on a wet suit and boarded a small bumpy boat for a short ride out to a better part of the reef. Here I jumped out into the cold water with my group of ten led by a marine biologist who constantly pointed out all kinds of fish and marine life. We were literally swimming among huge schools of fish. This was a terrific connection with nature for me. I couldn't believe how large some of the fish were too. The highlight was to spot five large white tip sharks swimming and circling just a few feet below us. Even more interesting was to see them on the hunt on the schools of fish.

After an hour swim I made it back to the main boat where I continued to find my sea legs. At 3PM I boarded a tiny boat to go out to a small floating platform with a helicopter waiting for me. I boarded with four others. We lifted off and soared 500 feet above the reef. The view was breathtaking and unbelievable if not seen from this perspective. I could see the panoramic view of this horseshoe reef.